Stephanie Meskauskas

It's really difficult for me to say that it's my success, because I think a lot of the things that I've been able to accomplish are due to the people around me. Any success that I've had, especially with United Way and the Philanthropy Award, I have to commend Angel Romero through the United Way. He's moved on to another position, but truly, he's put me in a position where I can serve my community and get connected and integrated from the volunteer side. I have incredible minds here at Hallmark through our engineering department and our creative teams that are too many to list. But I do want to give a shout out to my personal boss, David Jones, who, if it weren't for his support and his trust in me, I don't think I could have thrived to the capacity that I've achieved this year and taken the opportunities again to take risks and learn from those risks.

Probably the greatest thing my mentor Eric Boldridge ever told me is, it's okay to let it fail. It doesn't mean that you don't care. It is an opportunity to advocate for resources, for time, and for help. If you don't let it fail, you will burn yourself up, and you'll fail yourself. That was such a liberating moment for me that really empowered me to really start assessing how I use my time and how I leverage my resources and my connections. I know early in my career with Hallmark, I was very much so a perfectionist, and I would burn myself out and stretch out these hours because I had to get it done. This advice helped me understand that I don't have to be everything and everyone at once. I can rely on other people to fill in those gaps.

I would say, stay open and reflect on what skills you have that can be transferable or built on. My background's actually a BFA in Fine Arts, and prior to coming into leadership and manufacturing, I was doing stagecraft, stage management, producing and directing. I knew I wanted something a little bit more stable because I had a kiddo at home, so I was looking at how my skills could translate and transfer into a leadership role for equitable income. When I was younger, I was worried about being perfect or having everything right before I jumped for an opportunity. But as I've grown, the realization for me is to just go for it and allow yourself to do it imperfectly and learn along the way. As long as you're improving a little bit each time, that's the whole purpose. If you wait until you're at 100%, you will miss those opportunities. You don't have to be at 100% yet. There's things that you can go for and build those skills along the way.

I think it's important to plot out your time and make sure that I'm fitting in time for me. There's a tendency to go, go, go, and what's the next target, what's the next goal? But without that downtime to refresh and renew and stay focused, it's difficult to keep going. I try to make time for a little bit of everything. I do have some books that I read for personal enrichment and leadership growth, but I also enjoy reading fantasy novels, and so I will take some downtime to read something fun for myself. I carve out time each day to get out in nature with my kiddo and my dogs, and so at least twice a day, we'll spend 30 minutes walking and enjoying the outdoors. I also enjoy crafting, and so making time at least once a week to build something else that's not work-related really serves my soul. I think all those things are important, and not to think you have to do them perfectly. By no means am I super athletic or the most artistic, creative person, but these are all things that I find time to just bring myself joy.